A common practice of merchants, e.g., providers of products and services, is to hold, or “sponsor” various types of sale events at various locations associated with the merchants, and/or at various dates and times throughout the year. In most cases, the merchants sponsoring sale events make every effort to announce the sale events to both existing and potential customers, i.e., consumers. However, in today's highly mobile and hectic world, is increasingly difficult for existing customers/consumers to learn of, and keep track of, sale events sponsored by, or associated with, all of the merchants they use on a recurring basis.
The situation is made even more difficult by the fact that while a consumer may do business with a given merchant at a given location on a recurring basis, the same merchant may sponsor a sale at a different location associated with the merchant and, in some cases, the different location may also be within a reasonable distance of the consumer, or at a location the consumer travels near on a regular basis.
As a result of the situation described above, many merchants currently miss the opportunity to attract existing customers to their sale events and therefore miss the opportunity to make potential sales and fully realize the benefits of their sponsored sale events. In addition, currently, many existing customers of merchants currently miss opportunities to save money on purchases made from merchants they already frequent.
What is needed, is a simple and efficient method and system for informing consumers of nearby sales sponsored by merchants with whom the consumers already have an existing business relationship.